Slow cooker appliances have been broadly used in households since at least the 1970's and are commonly used for a variety of purposes. Slow cookers are convenient ways to cook a wide variety of foods including, but not limited to, soups, stews, dips, chilis, roasts, and other large cuts of meat at a lower temperature for extended periods of time, One benefit of slow cookers is that a user may add all the ingredients for a meal, namely, the meat, starches, vegetables, and so forth, together into one appliance and it will “slow cook” during the day and be ready for consumption at dinner time.
Typically, slow cookers include a ceramic or stoneware cooking vessel received in a metal housing. A transparent glass or plastic lid may be removably mounted on the cooking vessel, The housing may include electronic controls and heating element(s) for heating food stuffs placed within the cooking vessel. The housing generally has handles extending therefrom to allow a user to relatively easily grasp and move the slow cooker. Often, the user may want to move the slow cooker after it is loaded with the food stuffs to be cooked.
One drawback commonly associated with slow cookers is that the lids are not securely engaged to the cooking vessel and the housing. As such, the lid may slide off the cooking vessel when the slow cooker is being transported allowing foodstuffs to spill from the cooking vessel. Accordingly, there is a need to secure the lid to cooking vessel and housing to prevent spillage during transport.